Missing Sunday Mass

[Loreen2012]

1.Does the Eastern Catholic rite have the same view on missing mass as the Roman Catholic? That is, do they believe it is a mortal sin to not attend Sunday mass, and if you do not you will go to hell?

1. Also what would be considered a reason not to attend mass. It is hard for me to go places sometimes due to migraines, anxiety, IBS (where I have to access the washroom frequently) and I am worried that if I become part of the Catholic church and cannot make all Sunday masses that I will go to hell? Also I get severe muscle spasms that can keep me up all night then I am only able to sleep during the day. Would missing multiple masses for these reasons in the Eastern Catholic church be mortal sins?

Thank you for your response and help.

 

[Phillip_Rolfes]

1.Does the Eastern Catholic rite have the same view on missing mass as the Roman Catholic? That is, do they believe it is a mortal sin to not attend Sunday mass, and if you do not you will go to hell?

1. Also what would be considered a reason not to attend mass. It is hard for me to go places sometimes due to migraines, anxiety, IBS (where I have to access the washroom frequently) and I am worried that if I become part of the Catholic church and cannot make all Sunday masses that I will go to hell? Also I get severe muscle spasms that can keep me up all night then I am only able to sleep during the day. Would missing multiple masses for these reasons in the Eastern Catholic church be mortal sins?

Thank you for your response and help.

Even in the Roman Catholic Church missing Mass for those reasons would not be a mortal sin. The Roman Church recognizes that there are legitimate things and health conditions that sometimes prevent us from attending Mass every Sunday. I have two children; one is teething and the other is a special-needs child. There are nights when my wife and I are up and down all night with the kids and we simply need to get a little extra sleep. I also have to work most Sundays, so evening Mass is often not possible for us. It’s not that we don’t want to go to Church or that we’re skipping out because of laziness. It’s just that there are some Sundays that we can’t make it.

Eastern Christianity has a slightly different notion of sin than Western Christianity. It’s a little less “static,” so to speak, than the Western concept. While the East does recognize that there are sins serious enough that they must be confessed before one receives Holy Communion, I am unaware of any delineation or list of such serious sins. But the commonly recognized list of “mortal” sins would most likely apply.

 

[Loreen2012]

That makes me feel better. I thought it meant it is mortal sin to miss even if it is because you are tired from being up all night with a migraine, or if you are working.

Thank you for clarifying for me.

 

[J.J]

*SLAVA ISUSU CHRISTU!

You have my sympathy, Loreen2012, I also suffer with IBS - but, apparently not to the extent you do.
As already stated, there is no sin connected with missing attendance at Divine Liturgy “for good and honorable reasons.” And certainly medical infirmity is “good and honorable reason”.
Attend when you can – God knows, God sees, God hears.
As in the story of the Great Monk, when asked if he would fight to spread the word of Orthodoxy, he replied by drawing a circle in the sand around himself and said - “within this circle I am Orthodox; outside this circle I care not.”

“To thine own self be True.”

SLAVA VOVIKI*

 

[Zekariya]

That makes me feel better. I thought it meant it is mortal sin to miss even if it is because you are tired from being up all night with a migraine, or if you are working.

Thank you for clarifying for me.

I suffer from constant migraines.

“Glory be to God for all things.” - St John Chrysostom, his dying words while being lead into exile

 

[St_Francis]

Sickness, travelling, quite bad weather, taking care of sick people and even being too far away from the church render the “obligation” moot, and that list is not exhaustive; once I missed Mass because we stopped on the way to help people who had had an accident. Another time was because I smelled smoke and pulled over onto a grassy shoulder and got stuck

So, missing Mass in a sinful way is more like saying, I don’t wanna go! and rolling over and going back to bed or going to eat pastries instead of going to Mass.

Welcome

 

[Anastasia13]

So, missing Mass in a sinful way is more like saying, I don’t wanna go! and rolling over and going back to bed or going to eat pastries instead of going to Mass.

Welcome

What if you do that because you have had 5.5 hours of sleep, again, for the second night in a row or fourth night that week, and are scarcely ever able to nap or go to sleep much earlier than normal?

 

[twf]

What if you do that because you have had 5.5 hours of sleep, again, for the second night in a row or fourth night that week, and are scarcely ever able to nap or go to sleep much earlier than normal?

I can only speak from the Latin perspective, not the Eastern, but as other posters have noted, if you truly have a legitimate reason to miss Sunday mass, there is no sin. It is important to note the following:

1. The sin is not missing Sunday mass per se, but rather deliberately disobeying those whom God has given authority (the power of binding and loosing entrusted by Our Lord to the successors of St. Peter and the Apostles - the Pope and bishops).
2. Canon law is clear that serious reasons exempt one of the obligation
3. If in doubt, such as the situation you describe above, you can contact your canonical pastor (the pastor of the parish in which you reside - again I am commenting from the Latin perspective - Eastern Churches may have different norms), and he can dispense you from the obligation

In the Latin mindset, the Church sets obligations as the minimum standard that a person must follow to keep on the straight and narrow path. St. Paul commands us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, and Our Lord is clear that the path to eternal life, while possible by His grace, is not an easy one. The Church knows that we are often weak and prone to sloth, so to assist us, much like a parent assisting a child, she gives us minimum standards. The Church encourages far more than she requires. Should we go to Sunday mass out of obligation rather than out of love for the Lord? Of course it should be our love for God that compels us to participate in the divine liturgy…but some of us may need that extra nudge until we reach spiritual maturity. Some of us aren’t ready to go every single Sunday out of love for the Lord alone. Simply being present at holy mass is to be exposed to immense graces…the Spirit will begin to work on you and in time you may start attending not only Sunday masses but also daily masses - not out of obligation, but out of a genuine hunger for the Eucharistic Lord.

The same could be said of the Latin Church’s fasting laws. Often Eastern Christians comment how lax our contemporary norms are. This is true…but once again, they are to be considered a bare minimum standard for the weaker brothers among us who require a standard. Obviously, for those who feel called to do so, fasting more often is a good thing.

 

[rdorseyhsd]

In our Church, we are taught that it is not a sin to miss Sunday Divine Liturgy. However, if you don’t want to attend, you do not belong in our Church.

 

[St_Francis]

What if you do that because you have had 5.5 hours of sleep, again, for the second night in a row or fourth night that week, and are scarcely ever able to nap or go to sleep much earlier than normal?

If you cannot go due to exhaustion caused by insomnia or sickness, that is different than a college student’s deciding to sleep in because he was out partying the night before. This is why it is sometimes hard for the Church to deliniate exact rules about morality. If my child whines, I don’t wanna go to school, it’s different than if he tells me he is sick and can’t go, right? Same thing with Mass.

 

[Anastasia13]

If you cannot go due to exhaustion caused by insomnia or sickness, that is different than a college student’s deciding to sleep in because he was out partying the night before. This is why it is sometimes hard for the Church to deliniate exact rules about morality. If my child whines, I don’t wanna go to school, it’s different than if he tells me he is sick and can’t go, right? Same thing with Mass.

What about a college student’s deciding to sleep in because he was up studying the night before?

What about didn’t sleep because of accidentally getting too involved in reading for fun or something?

Both are situations I have run into.

“This is why it is sometimes hard for the Church to deliniate exact rules about morality” It’s the hard pressed emphasis on morality that I have run into among some Christians that makes gray areas seem to need to be black and white or you have failed to do God’s will by not doing everything at all possible.

 

[St_Francis]

What about a college student’s deciding to sleep in because he was up studying the night before?

What about didn’t sleep because of accidentally getting too involved in reading for fun or something?

Both are situations I have run into.

“This is why it is sometimes hard for the Church to deliniate exact rules about morality” It’s the hard pressed emphasis on morality that I have run into among some Christians that makes gray areas seem to need to be black and white or you have failed to do God’s will by not doing everything at all possible.

This is the thing: Christ suffered for us. He suffered a *lot. *So, do we get off scot-free, or do we join in His suffering? Did He suffer so we could stay up late at night reading a thriller and then skipping Mass the next day cause we are too tired to go?

So, look at it like you look at hanging out with someone you really like or love: your fiance, your best friend you hardly ever get to see, a beloved relative… Are you going to stay up late reading a thriller and brush off your fiance the next morning?

We don’t go to Mass because we *have *to, we go to Mass because we are blessed enough by God to be *able *to go. We shouldn’t look at the minimum we have to do; we should love God and look forward to seeing Him, in the Person of His Son, truly present for us in the Eucharist.

But just as sometimes you might be unable to see your fiance or other person you really like, sometimes you will be unable to go and visit God. And He is way more understanding than any human being. If you ignore your job for a few months, they’ll probably have written you off a long time before, right? But God is *always happy to take us back. *

So we sleep in one Sunday after partying too late the night before, we go, truly sorry, to Confession and right away He forgives us. And then we try to avoid offending our God, Who has done so muc for us, again.

 

[Anastasia13]

This is the thing: Christ suffered for us. He suffered a *lot. *So, do we get off scot-free, or do we join in His suffering? Did He suffer so we could stay up late at night reading a thriller and then skipping Mass the next day cause we are too tired to go?

So, look at it like you look at hanging out with someone you really like or love: your fiance, your best friend you hardly ever get to see, a beloved relative… Are you going to stay up late reading a thriller and brush off your fiance the next morning?

I’ve been tired enough to brush off a friend because I knew I would not feel well. (I forgot what lead to it that one time.)

How much suffering is enough to not be obligated to join in suffering? One could also say, “Did He suffer so we could stay up late at night doing something in between unsuccessful attempts at sleep and then skipping Mass the next day cause we are too tired to go?” I hate when people use that line of reasoning. Even when it is not intended as such, it can be played out to say that you have to be up for 18 hours on 3 hours of sleep no matter what the cause and no matter how you feel or what else you are obligated to do. It plays into the same reasoning in my head that tells me to give up any measure of comfort or happiness in this transient world, that the only pleasure or comfort that may be legitimately enjoyed is spiritual, and I don’t have the strength to live that life.

And the best thrillers usually involve looking up church documents, Christian history, or exegesis.

 

[St_Francis]

I’ve been tired enough to brush off a friend because I knew I would not feel well. (I forgot what lead to it that one time.)

How much suffering is enough to not be obligated to join in suffering? One could also say, “Did He suffer so we could stay up late at night doing something in between unsuccessful attempts at sleep and then skipping Mass the next day cause we are too tired to go?” I hate when people use that line of reasoning. Even when it is not intended as such, it can be played out to say that you have to be up for 18 hours on 3 hours of sleep no matter what the cause and no matter how you feel or what else you are obligated to do. It plays into the same reasoning in my head that tells me to give up any measure of comfort or happiness in this transient world, that the only pleasure or comfort that may be legitimately enjoyed is spiritual, and I don’t have the strength to live that life.

I am having a hard time answering this because I heard a really excellent and elegant explanation but I have forgotten the details…

Anyway, it boils down to focusing on being faithful to the duties of our states of life, and then performing mortifications as an aid to increasing in virtue. Those of us who are *not *nuns or monks should *not *try to live like them. (In fact, a spiritual director for those who want to do more than the everyday is strongly advised.)

And the best thrillers usually involve looking up church documents, Christian history, or exegesis.

:lol:

But on a serious note, studying about Church teachings is of a lower priority than going to Mass. If a person says, well, it’s all right for me to miss Mass because Inwas up late reading Church documents, that is skewed. It would be like saying telling one’s fiance that one was too tired to see him as planned because one had stayed up too late reading his letters and looking at his photo album. SWIM?

We are also to order our lives towards the Eucharist. We should say to ourselves on Saturday night, hmm I better not start reading this exciting Church document because I might have trouble going to sleep and then be unable to get to Mass tomorrow. You see, there is an element of bad order for the person who stays up too late as a result of one’s own choice… it’s like being immature, and we are supposed to grow up in our faith.

But overall, worrying about these details is not good. Worrying in general is not good. We should strive to please God out of love for Him, out of gratitude and praise, out of a recognition that He loves you.

And sure, sometimes we all mess up. Yes, there are times we are too tired to go to Mass because we were caring for a baby or sick ourselves, but then there are those times we just forgot ourselves, stayed later at a party than we intended to, stayed up later reading than we intended to… but the thing is, we tell God we are sorry, with the idea of avoiding that in the future, and move on, knowing He has forgiven us by the sacrament of Confession.

We are each on a spiritual path, and God gives us directions to Him. Our job is to try to follow the directions and to ask forgiveness when we voluntarily fail. But He always forgives us, and part of our traveling our path is to see where we have a tendency to fall off the path so we know where we need work. When we confess our sins it is like acknowledging to God where we are weak and asking for His help in shoring that area up. On one level, it is like we are saying, God, I didn’t rely on You enough in this area of my life and I am sorry about that.

I don’t know if all this will help; if I remember where I read that good explanation, I will for sure bring it here

 

[Anastasia13]

I am having a hard time answering this because I heard a really excellent and elegant explanation but I have forgotten the details…

Anyway, it boils down to focusing on being faithful to the duties of our states of life, and then performing mortifications as an aid to increasing in virtue. Those of us who are *not *nuns or monks should *not *try to live like them. (In fact, a spiritual director for those who want to do more than the everyday is strongly advised.)

:lol:

But on a serious note, studying about Church teachings is of a lower priority than going to Mass. If a person says, well, it’s all right for me to miss Mass because Inwas up late reading Church documents, that is skewed. It would be like saying telling one’s fiance that one was too tired to see him as planned because one had stayed up too late reading his letters and looking at his photo album. SWIM?

We are also to order our lives towards the Eucharist. We should say to ourselves on Saturday night, hmm I better not start reading this exciting Church document because I might have trouble going to sleep and then be unable to get to Mass tomorrow. You see, there is an element of bad order for the person who stays up too late as a result of one’s own choice… it’s like being immature, and we are supposed to grow up in our faith.

But overall, worrying about these details is not good. Worrying in general is not good. We should strive to please God out of love for Him, out of gratitude and praise, out of a recognition that He loves you.

And sure, sometimes we all mess up. Yes, there are times we are too tired to go to Mass because we were caring for a baby or sick ourselves, but then there are those times we just forgot ourselves, stayed later at a party than we intended to, stayed up later reading than we intended to… but the thing is, we tell God we are sorry, with the idea of avoiding that in the future, and move on, knowing He has forgiven us by the sacrament of Confession.

We are each on a spiritual path, and God gives us directions to Him. Our job is to try to follow the directions and to ask forgiveness when we voluntarily fail. But He always forgives us, and part of our traveling our path is to see where we have a tendency to fall off the path so we know where we need work. When we confess our sins it is like acknowledging to God where we are weak and asking for His help in shoring that area up. On one level, it is like we are saying, God, I didn’t rely on You enough in this area of my life and I am sorry about that.

I don’t know if all this will help; if I remember where I read that good explanation, I will for sure bring it here

Of course we should not choose to stay up when we have church in the morning, but my question about other reasons to be up are more in line with the after-the-fact, “that was really stupid of me and church is in an hour and I am exhausted” times. You said people mess up. Does the Catholic Church let them sleep in if the reason is that they messed up and not an externally imposed hindrance?

I’ve already heard the: your homework that will significantly impact your college grade that you really need to work on needs to wait so you can get to church even when taking that time has a very strong negative impact on a midterm/project/final (even though I would hardly have date in such a situation).

If those things are mortal sins to you, why not do everything you can to avoid them? The fate of ones eternal soul and those of others souls are surely worth some care more than anything else. What not deal with the details to make very very careful decisions about such things? How could that be worry?

 

[St_Francis]

Of course we should not choose to stay up when we have church in the morning, but my question about other reasons to be up are more in line with the after-the-fact, “that was really stupid of me and church is in an hour and I am exhausted” times. You said people mess up. Does the Catholic Church let them sleep in if the reason is that they messed up and not an externally imposed hindrance?

I’ve already heard the: your homework that will significantly impact your college grade that you really need to work on needs to wait so you can get to church even when taking that time has a very strong negative impact on a midterm/project/final (even though I would hardly have date in such a situation).

If those things are mortal sins to you, why not do everything you can to avoid them? The fate of ones eternal soul and those of others souls are surely worth some care more than anything else. What not deal with the details to make very very careful decisions about such things? How could that be worry?

The Church sets forth the *boundaries, *and then we try to stay in the boundaries. But the Church cannot in advance judge every instance.

I have children; I teach them rules, but what they think of that I didn’t think to make a rule about is incredible! Same way with the Church.

And each situation is different. I live 1.5 hours away from our parish and sometimes I am well enough to go to Mass, but not well enough to drive 3 hours. So my situation would be different if I lived right around the corner from the church.

And I think that Catholics who are serious about their faith do do everything they can to avoid missing Mass. If they have to work on Sunday and can make it to Saturday Mass, they do that; if they miss morning Mass, they go to an evening Mass. Sometimes something happens so they miss Mass and there is no later Mass, and then they just can’t go.

And sometimes we make a mistake. We miscalculate, we goof up.

While missing Mass is *objectively *a mortal sin, it does not mean that every person who misses Mass is then in a state of mortal sin. To be guilty of a mortal sin requires serious matter, full knowlege, and full consent. To be mortally guilty of the sin of missing Mass would require *rejecting *going to Mass. It would require something like when teenagers tell their parents, I won’t go to Mass! as opposed to sleeping through the alarm, forgetting it’s Sunday, or any number of things that happen.

 

[Kathrin]

maybe an evening mass would be a good idea for you?

 

[theistgal]

And once again, the correct response from the Eastern perspective is (drum roll please):

Speak With Your Priest!

If this is the parish you regularly attend, just tell your priest that you have this recurring illness (migraines) which sometimes makes it difficult for you to attend Divine Liturgy, and then follow his advice and instructions.

So simple. Bless me, what do they teach them at these schools?

 

[Kathrin]

And once again, the correct response from the Eastern perspective is (drum roll please):

Speak With Your Priest!

not only from an Eastern perspective this is good advice

 

[tmslax]

“We should strive to please God out of love for Him, out of gratitude and praise, out of a recognition that He loves you. We are each on a spiritual path, and God gives us directions to Him. Our job is to try to follow the directions and to ask forgiveness when we voluntarily fail. But He always forgives us, and part of our traveling our path is to see where we have a tendency to fall off the path so we know where we need work. When we confess our sins it is like acknowledging to God where we are weak and asking for His help in shoring that area up. On one level, it is like we are saying, God, I didn’t rely on You enough in this area of my life and I am sorry about that.”

Thanks for this post - it has helped me tremendously! God bless.